Shimano Curado 300DSV review

Reel Review

Low Profile Design, Round Reel Muscle, the Shimano Curado 300DSV (continued)

Mounted on a rod the Curado 300DSV felt even more like the 200 sizes, and was still surprisingly easy to palm. It certainly didn’t feel like a saltwater reel… that was until the very first minute I started cranking away on the reel. The gearing immediately felt dissimilar. The 200 size reels already made use of Shimano’s HEG (High Efficiency Gearing), but the 300 felt instantly more powerful. In fact the gearing on the Curado 300DSV is designed to deliver increased torque.

A close look at the Curado 300DSV in the lab just before breakdown

As I proceeded to mash away at the test reel Jeremy told us that he had just come back from a field test in Argentina with pro staffer Larry Dahlberg. He then pulled out a huge wooden marlin chugger which looked like it had been run over with a truck.

Like the other new Curado reels this one is made in Japan

Jeremy had field tested the Curado 300DSV prototype by targeting Golden Dorado…and they had caught hundreds of them. For this particular application they needed a fast reel to retrieve the large plugs to incite strikes, but the minute the Golden Dorado were hooked up they needed a reel with enough muscle to bring them in. No other reel in the Shimano lineup (or the competitor lineup) had the right balance of attributes for this application.

Removing the handle takes seconds

Real World Test: When we finally got our hands on the Curado 300DSV we were more than ready to get out into the field and see what the big-daddy of Curados could really do. Unfortunately we didn’t have any Golden Durado around, but what we did have were plenty of stripers and rockfish to match the Curado 300DSV up against. We paired the Curado 300DSV with a couple of rods including Loomis Pro Blue sticks and a Shimano Trevala jigging rod.

A look at the master gearing

When we spooled up the reel for the first time we couldn’t believe just how much braid we could get on the reel. For a low profile reel the Curado 300DSV boasts an absolutely exceptional capacity. In fact it can hold as much line (14/190) as a Calcutta TE 300 round reel! How does it do it? With use of Magnumlite spool design. While the other Curado reels make use of Magnumlite thin walled spools for casting advantages, the Curado 300DSV’s spool makes use of the material to not only make longer casts but provide more capacity with an ultra deep design.

Drop the plate and half of the Dartanium drag system is exposed

As we head out to the field we decided to not only test the Curado 300DSV as we would any normal baitcaster, but also make some direct comparisons with round reels to see if the Curado 300DSV positioning really made sense. For our evaluation we compared the Curado 300DSV with the popular Calcutta 300TE (which has the same capacity, similar drag performance, but retails for 90 dollars more).

A look at the other side of the gear reveals another drag surface

Next Section: Casting the Curado 300DSV